LeBron, Akron Zoo jaguar, to leave Ohio for Florida

AKRON, Ohio — A LeBron is leaving northeast Ohio, but it's a cat, not a Cavalier.

Whether NBA superstar LeBron James is staying with the Cleveland Cavaliers is still a big question, but the Akron Zoo said Thursday that it will say goodbye to another LeBron, a jaguar born there last year.

By mid-June, the cat is going to the Brevard Zoo in Melbourne, Fla., in hopes he'll produce offspring with a female jaguar named Masaya.

Zoo spokesman David Barnhardt says the jaguar LeBron got his name in a contest.

LeBron James grew up in Akron and once lived on a street just outside the zoo entrance. He can become a free agent this summer, and there's been massive speculation about whether he'll stay in his home state, with Cleveland.

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-- Associated Press

Photo: LeBron relaxes in his Akron Zoo enclosure. Credit: Associated Press